Subaru Forester is best small SUV, 'Consumer Reports' says

May 21, 2013
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The redesigned 2014 Subaru Forester. / Subaru

by James R. Healey, USATODAY

by James R. Healey, USATODAY

Subaru's extensive redesign of its Forester makes it the top small SUV, according to Consumer Reports.

The magazine says the "2014 Subaru Forester earned the top spot against a very competitive small SUV class â?? easily outpointing other recent redesigns including the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5."

It's the second award for Forester lately. The car also was the only small SUV to pass a particularly challenging front-offset crash test performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Consumer Reports says that the new Forester's not stylish, but that's good: "Subaru continues to put function in front of form....Forester resists the contemporary trend toward making SUVs look more like sports coupes, instead focusing on the fundamentals with a space-efficient design, large windows, and big square doors. The result is the easiest access and the best view out of almost any vehicle. It also has one of the roomiest rear seats in the class, with copious amounts of head and leg room."

Jake Fisher, head of the magazine's auto test center, says, "Tthe Forester is hard to beat."

In its tests, Consumer Reports registered 26 mpg overall and 35 mpg on the highway, and noted: "While the CVT is an annoyance in many other vehicles, it's largely unobtrusive in the Forester. Ratio changes are quick and responsive and engine noise is only noticeable during hard acceleration." CVT is a reference to continuously variable-ratio automatic transmission, a design used more and more because it generally delivers better mpg.

The redesign "is not without trade-offs. The ride used to be calm and cushy, but now is rather firm and jittery. Handling is responsive and very secure, but CR's engineers found that the Forester isn't as agile as the Ford Escape, Mazda CX-5, or Toyota RAV4. And Subaru's in-car infotainment technology is behind the curve," the publication reports.

The model bought and tested by the publication was a Forester 2.5i Premium, $26,814. That is "a good value that included heated front seats, a big sunroof, a backup camera, and a power driver's seat," Consumer Reports says.

Even though it is a new design, and those usually have more problems than normal, CR says it forecasts "above-average reliability" and so gives the 2014 Forester a "recommended' rating.